One Punch Man (2014)

[ワンパンマン]

Volume 7

Author: ONE
Artist: Yusuke Murata
Publisher: Jump Comics

Synopsis:
The S-Class heroes have their hands full with the threats on the ground and in the air while Saitama dukes it out with Lord Boros.

Story/Characters:
The fight between Saitama and Boros is of the sort of scale you'd use to end a series, but that's how we roll in One Punch Man. While I don't generally like the bored villain character type, I do like that Boros is framed as sort of a dark mirror image of Saitama, someone so powerful that he resorts to galactic conquest in search of someone, anyone who can pose even a remote challenge so he can actually feel alive. Metal Knight and Amai Mask make brief appearances to establish themselves as total bags of garbage (though we already were getting cued into that about Metal Knight from the meteor incident). I do like that Bang lampshades how troublesome the heroes are. I think it's effective to present the heroes as arguably a bigger problem than the threats they face. It at least dispels any concept of black and white morality.

Art:
The Boros fight escalates to insane proportions, leading to some really stunning visuals and quite a few two-page spreads. On a lesser note, Metal Knight's walker from one of the side chapters has a really cool design.

Other:
We get quite a bit of side material this time around. First there's a little two-pager about Saitama finding a bit of moonrock in his boot, then a chapter about the reconstruction of A City, one about Charanko becoming Bang's number one pupil, one about the tension between the regular police and heroes, and a little omake where Metal Bat faces off against Amai Mask.

Conclusion:
We bring the alien invasion to a satisfying close. If you like epic-scale battles, you'll be more than happy to add this to your collection.

Rating:
Own It